Obasanjo’s prescriptions were contained in a strategy report submitted to the former military head of state.
The former president had, four months ago, set up an independent think-tank group headed by Prof. Akin Mabogunje of the Obasanjo Presidential Library with the aim of carrying out a study on the challenges facing the country.
Presenting volumes of the report to Buhari on behalf of Obasanjo think-thank team at the Buhari Support Organisation Campaign Office, Wuse 2, Abuja, yesterday, the vice chairman of the committee and former minister of Finance, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, said: “The whole idea was that Obasanjo set up his own think- tank with the aim of carrying out a study on challenges facing the country in five key areas of education, power sector, economy, security and infrastructure. The study was commissioned four months ago so that the outcome will be made available to the incoming administration after the election”.
Also, Dr Christopher Kolade, who heads the power committee, gave various stages of the proposed power sector development plan to include short term, medium term and long term solutions.
He said under the short term solution, the plan seeks to raise country’s power generation to 10,000 MW within a very short period of time.
In his response, an appreciative Buhari expressed gratitude to the former president and his team, describing their intervention as a great impetus for the incoming government.
The president-elect lamented that the outgoing government that is supposed to give him tips on how to take off had done nothing so far.
He thanked Obasanjo’s team for its gesture, assuring it that his administration would be needing its advice as time goes on.
Speaking about the occasion, Prof Akin Maboguje said: “The Centre for Human Security of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library is working on a number of critical issues for the development of this country and they have now sent a delegation of those who’ve been involved with the preparation of those policy documents to talk to the president-elect.
“We’ve looked at education, security, economy, power and infrastructure. Those are the areas we’ve made recommendations and which we hope the new administration will be able to work on.
“He (Buhari) was very happy that we’ve been thinking about how to help him hit the ground running and he expressed his appreciation for what we’ve been doing.”
Boko Haram: President Yayi Assures Buhari Of Support
…Says 55 % Benin population are Nigerians…
The president of neighbouring Republic of Benin, Boni Yayi, yesterday assured President-elect Muhammadu Buhari of his country’s support in tackling the problem of insecurity in the country.
The Beninoise president also disclosed that 55 percent of his country’s population are Nigerians.
President Yayi stated this yesterday in Abuja when he visited Buhari at Defence House.
On cooperation, Yayi said there was need for the two countries to strengthen their ties as they share common culture.
He said: “Benin is the 37th state of Nigeria and Nigeria is the 7th department of Benin. Fifty-five per cent of the population of Benin comes from Nigeria; and at home here, my brothers and sisters in Nigeria have recently chosen my senior, President Buhari, as their president in order to lead their destiny.
“He is well known to people for his integrity, his experience as a former head of state of Nigeria, his patriotism and his ability to take up the challenges in Nigeria and our sub region are facing today, mainly Boko Haram issue, peace issue, ECOWAS issue. Mainly, Nigeria’s economy has been hanging the sub region’s economy.
“Mr President, you are an able man; you can deal with all the issues. May almighty Allah lead your step so that your mandate is successful to Nigeria, the sub region and the world.”
While congratulating the president-elect on his electoral victory, he noted that “Benin and Nigeria are very close in the area of culture, tradition and the two countries are bound together. We will always be by your side and support the great people of Nigeria. After his inauguration I will come back and together we will examine the status of our cooperation. We need to strengthen our cooperation.”
In his response, Buhari thanked the visiting president for identifying with Nigeria during it security challenges.
“I am truly impressed with the prepared speech delivered by the President of Benin and we thank him very much for identifying with Nigeria. Being so close a neighbour and with the ethnic and cultural affiliations which he identified, is making it easy for Nigeria, especially on the security aspect.
“He has identified himself and his country with our major problem, the security challenges in the North East and Boko Haram – and he has voluntarily identified himself with the sub region of Chad Basin and being part of it in trying to stamp out the insurgency in the North East, which Nigeria is taking the biggest punishment so to speak in terms of the security and how it affects commerce and industry.”
… Praises Jonathan For Conducting Free, Fair Elections
The Benin Republic president also poured encomium on President Goodluck Jonathan for conducting what he described as very transparent and peaceful polls this year.
Addressing journalists after a closed-door meeting with Jonathan at the presidential villa, Abuja, Yayi commended his Nigerian counterpart for setting an exemplary leadership style on the African continent.
He recalled that Jonathan played outstanding leadership role in Africa by mediating in crisis that threatened many African countries, including Mali and Guinea Bissau.
2 Members sue PDP over alleged forceful resignation of Mu’azu, others
An
Abuja High Court has been asked to stop the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) from forcing the chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, and
other executive committee members from resigning their positions until
after the expiration of their tenure in office.Two members of the party, Tasiu Iliyasu Hussaini and Waziri Amadu, in suit CV/1831/15, dated May 14, 2015, are asking the court to determine whether members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party can be dissolved or forced to resign their positions without following laid-down procedures in the party’s constitution.
The plaintiffs, through their lawyers, Iliya Dauda and Nafiu Yakubu, asked the court to hold that the NWC of the party cannot be dissolved or forced to resign their positions without following the procedure laid down by the party’s constitution.
In the same vein, former national organising secretary of the party, Alhaji Umaru Dahiru, has advised against forcing the national leadership of the party to resign, saying it would not augur well for the reconstruction of the party.
Umaru disclosed that any attempt to force Mu’azu and his executive out will reduce the PDP to a regional party.
The plaintiffs further asked the court to make an order restraining the party from directing Mua’zu and other NWC members from resigning their positions without following the prescribed procedure in the party’s constitution.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.
PDP Crisis: Rumbles Over Selection To Jonathan’s Closed-door Meeting
Indications have emerged that the truce meeting called by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday over the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not yield much as some members of the party have expressed reservations over the selective invitation for the meeting.
President Jonathan had on Wednesday summoned a meeting of party leaders in a bid to address the post-election crisis rocking the party as he met with the leaders of the party in Abuja.
This is the second time the president will be meeting with party leaders and members of the party over the crisis of confidence arising from the electoral misfortune in the party.
Wednesdays’ meeting which began at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, from 8pm had some selected members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) the National Executive Committee (NEC), select National Assembly members and the National Working Committee (NWC) in attendance.
National chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, was not in attendance.
However, a leader of the party who confided in some newsmen expressed reservations over the mode of invitation to the meeting.
The party leader who pleaded anonymity said that the selective option adopted for the meeting would rather aggravate the issues than solve them.
He said, “There is no end to the crisis rocking the party at sight; those who attended the meeting were all hand-picked by somebody in the BoT; that is the problem in the party. These people are just killing the party.”
However, it was learnt that there was no decision to sack the party’s NWC at the meeting which stretched into the wee hours of the morning.
It was however gathered that the president again called for cessation to the infighting by all the party members and underscored the need for unity, in order for the party to reorganise itself for future elections.
God’s Grace Has Kept Nigeria One — Gowon
Says Ojukwu was surprised his regime resisted secession
Former
head of state, General Yakubu Gowon yesterday said Nigeria would long
have disintegrated and confined to the dustbin of history were it not
for the grace of God.The elder statesman said this at a lecture entitled: “The Church and Nigerian Nation: Impact, Challenges and the Way Forward,” to mark the 60th anniversary of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria (FGCN), held at the national headquarters of the church in Lagos.
Gowon who chaired the occasion emphasized that Nigeria has remained together because God has given the nation the assurance that He would always answer Nigerians whenever they call upon Him to help them out of their troubles.
According to him, despite the numerous predictions that the country would break up in 2015, God hearkened to the prayers of the people and intervened in the affairs of the country.
Gowon said: “All my life, from childhood to this present day, the Bible has consistently been my companion. I discovered quite early that every word of God contained therein speak to every situation in the life of every man or woman, great or small and to occurrences in every nation, big or small.
“Since these words are self-evidently true, they are reliable and unfailing. This should surprise no one because God Himself gave us the assurance that He would always answer when we call upon Him.
“You will agree that, across time, happenings in our fatherland have almost always ensured that people of faith across denominations in Christendom and in Islam kept unending vigil for the love of country.”
Reminiscing on the nation’s past, Gowon recalled how the late Chief Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu had thought that he (Gowon) would not call out federal forces to war to stop the secession because of his (Gowon’s) deep Christianity.
“Let me share a joke of what happened before the civil war in 1967-1970. I think it was my colleague Emeka Ojukwu that said ‘I know Jack. He is a Christian, who always carries a suitcase around with the Bible inside.
“He wouldn’t like to fight. Unfortunately, he was proved wrong. However, it was through the grace of God that we were able to keep Nigeria one. It was the prayers of people of God and the bravery of our fighting forces that kept this country together.
“After the civil war, it was wisdom from God to willing and obedient hearts that helped us to initiate and implement programmes that best served the interest of the people,” he said.
“It was God that helped to stem the tide of bloody coups in Nigeria so that we can enjoy democracy today. Even when naysayers wrote off this nation and various uncertified futurologists predicted the breakup of Nigeria by 2015 as a bye-product of the recently concluded general elections, the effective prayers of people of faith moved the hands of God and He once more intervened in the affairs of our dear country.”
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